Yes, It’s Cold, and Yes, the Climate Is Still Changing

Tell me if you’re tired of hearing this line: “Hey, smartypants, if the planet is heating up, how come this winter has been so cold?!” In the wake of the polar vortex, torrential rain and flooding in areas as far-flung as England and New Zealand, and a grinding winter that’s leading people to make jokes about the White Witch, people who aren’t familiar with the science behind climate change are claiming that recent weather conditions disprove the very well-supported theory of global climate trends. If you’re grinding your teeth every time you hear them, we’ve got some arguments to help you out.

While Northern Hemispherans might have been freezing, in Australia, people were suffering with record temperatures in excess of 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and even in California, things were pretty toasty: the state had the warmest winter ever recorded. (California also notably experienced extreme drought conditions in January, a far cry from the usual endless rain the northern part of the state experiences during the month.) Remember that climate change is about averages, not single data points, so the fact that it was unusually cold (or hot) in one specific place isn’t as important as overall trends.

3. Sounds weird, but more snow = warmer climate

Say what? Yes, really. Here’s how it works: because heat can’t make its way out to space as a result of gases in the atmosphere, the Earth is getting warmer (“global warming,” one aspect of climate change). Heat increases humidity as water evaporates from warming oceans, and all that trapped moisture in the air has to precipitate out. If you were in England this year, you saw it in the form of rain. If you were in an area where temperatures dropped extremely low, like the Eastern Seaboard, you witnessed endless snow. Even though you might have been cold, the planet wasn’t.

4. Guess what: This winter wasn’t actually that cold

Residents of the East Coast might cry foul here, but it’s true. These brutal winters are actually among average values historically — they just feel colder because in recent years, winters have been abnormally warm. Think about it this way: lukewarm water feels cold if you’ve just been dipping your fingers in hot water.

Remember that climate change is about shifts in climate patterns. While people may argue about the cause, there’s ample evidence to show that the planet’s climate is changing, and that this change is historic in terms of its unprecedented speed, and potentially devastating. We rely on a very narrow range of average temperatures to live in comfort. A few degrees can make a difference between a catastrophically high elevation in sea levels, crop failures and other pressures that will make life on Earth very uncomfortable for all of us.

The situation has become so dire that NASA, a normally pretty staid government agency, has warned of “irreversible collapse” across industrial civilizations on Earth unless we act fast to correct climate change and a host of chained issues, including water availability and pressure on agriculture, among others.

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It's math even a five year can understand. You pump 20+ billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere yearly beyond the 20 billion tons that earth's combined ocean and land biosystems can absorb, you've got 20+ billion tons that has to go somewhere. And it does, it enters the upper atmosphere, and stays up there for an average of 100 years. Worse it accumulates and triggers the release of more CO2 (and methane which is a time bomb for climate change) that has been locked up for eons in oceans, ice and water.

Stop burning coal (and the dirtiest oil, like Canadian tar sands). Coal production worldwide amounts to a whopping 40% of global warming. Greedy and criminal humans won't do that they will continue to act insanely and bicker until they're dead.

I'm not interested in arguing if it's getting warmer or colder, because at least in my part of the Midwest, it appears to be doing both at the same time -- significantly colder winters, and much hotter and drier summers. Whether you want to stand on one or other other sides of the argument on temperatures, the undeniable fact is that storms are becoming more virulent and more often, animals are acting strange, and crops and the pollinators we need to keep them growing are dying. So SOMETHING, or a lot of small somethings, need to be done now.

The evidence for man-made climate change is worldwide and undeniable. But solid facts never bother right-wing cultists, who just parrot back the party line from those profiting from the causes of climate change.

Louise d.,
Part of the problem us the media in this country. They think there is only two sides to any issue, and global warming is no exception. When it is hot, they look for someone to quote who will say this is evidence of global warming, and we must act now. When it is cold, they look for someone else who will say this shows global warming is bunk, and there is nothing to worry about. Neither of these extremes know much about climate or global warming.